Featured Artist of the Month: June 2012; Gina Barrett

In today’s post I would like to introduce our new Featured Artist, a few days early. Our Featured Artist of the month for June 2012 is:

Gina Barrett

Gina Barrett; Featured Artist of the month June 2012

I discovered her work thanks to her ‘Button It’ shows on Create and craft, and was fascinated by the intricate buttons she made from basic materials, sadly I’d never have the dexterity for making those, but more recently she has also show people how to create wonderful braids, I adore anything historical, and would love to make some finger loop braids as book closures.

If you have seen Gina on TV and for those of you who haven’t yet found Gina Barrett, here is a little more about her and her amazing work.

Who you are:

Gina: Gina Barrett, textile artist, illustrator, crafter

Where you are (which country you are based in)?

Gina: I live in the Midlands – (United Kingdom) but I am originally from the US.

What you do:

Gina: Although I am an illustrator by trade, most of what I currently do revolves around passementerie – making trimmings for clothing and interiors. Part of this involves a range of DVD (which are still being made) showing step-by-step the techniques involved in this discipline. I also do specialist commission work for costumiers, theatre and film. On ‘rest’ days, I like to dabble in sewing and mixed media projects

What got you started in your creative journey?

Gina: I have always wanted to be an ‘artist’ – when I was little I made books so that I could illustrate the stories! This was always paired with a fascination for costume, (I had toyed with the idea of becoming a costumier) and my journey took many paths in the beginning, including historical illustration. In studying costume, I became fascinated by the detail – which led to learning how these wonderful trimmings were made. Initially my study was all about medieval trimmings, and in particular weaving narrow wares (ribbons) and making tassels and braids. This expanded into learning as many techniques as I can. I am still learning, and hope to always learn.

What inspires you:

Gina: History, colour, skilled workmanship, historic portraiture.

18th Century Tassels. Before and after. Restored by Gina Barrett

Gina: The image is of a pair of 18th Century tassels that I restored for a stately home – one after the restoration, one before

If money,time and obligations were no object, what you would most like to do?

Gina: Spend time studying museum collections of passementerie items first hand, buy examples at auction to study, and just make…

What do you enjoy most about your creative work/life?

Gina: Working for myself. It is full of stresses (and they aren’t always great!) but the satisfaction of being able to devote time to create is a wonderful thing, and I am very lucky that I can do this. I am also learning that I am really enjoying teaching/sharing the techniques, both through writing articles and books, and trough making the dvd’s. Showing others how to do something that I had to figure out without help is very satisfying.

Links

To find out more about Gina Barrett and her work, please visit her blog and website, details below.

Thank you Gina Barrett for being our Featured Artist of the Month for June 2012. Do visit her site soon to see more of her wonderful pieces, her DVDs are available from her website and also on Create and Craft.

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5 Responses

Billie thank you for bringing this delightful artist to our attention. I hadn’t heard of Gina before but am very intrigued with what she does. Those tassels are beautiful, what an achievement to bring them back to their former glory.

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